Sincerely held beliefs can be wrong -- even in light of core tenets of a person's faith, let alone constitutional laws. Equality before the law does not infringe on any core religious belief in any religion. All religions teach that others should be treated with kindness and respect.

Across Alabama, local judges are openly defying a federal judicial order to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The New York Times reported yesterday that 44 of the state's 67 counties were not granting licenses. The state is a checkerboard where gay and lesbian Alabamans are locked out of full citizenship across vast swaths of the state based on the whims of local officials.

If state judges can get away with ignoring a federal ruling simply because they do not agree with said ruling on whatever grounds, they are giving themselves precedent to ignore any and all federal rulings they do not agree with.

I'm not saying my religious beliefs are the way for everyone to live or believe. But neither are yours. In fact, they are not truly universal religious beliefs but your personal beliefs. And that's OK. But you don't get to impose those on everyone else to prevent them from living, working, and loving with the same freedom that you are afforded by virtue of who you are.

Muslim-Americans in Kennesaw, Georgia who had hoped to use space in a retail shopping center as a prayer center recently had to confront hateful and ignorant comments from some residents, accusing them of being "enemies" and "infiltrators."

It is time for Muslim imams to lead their flocks in recognizing free speech and free exercise of religion as integral part of Islam. It is time for Western societies to stop asking Muslims what they feel every time radicals perpetrate yet another spectacular act of violence. Only then will "Je suis Charlie" find real meaning.

Once again many in the media have fallen for GOP strategists' attempts to make a candidate seem moderate --"soften" and "softening" seem to be the words of choice for CNN and others -- while he's not changed his hardcore right-wing position at all.

Reproductive justice embraces the interrelationship of reproductive freedom, religious liberty, and equality, among other rights and freedoms, as vital to creating meaningful social change and justice for everyone. It means supporting fundamental human rights -- the right to have full autonomy over our bodies.

Given their antic and piratical culture, not to mention their tendency to pray "In the Name of the Pasta, and of the Sauce, and of the Holy Meatballs," I asked Desky if Pastafarians should be regarded as authentic worshipers of His Spaghettiness or just in it for the, uh, saucy fun.

Whether or not you think the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a joke, the stakes are quite serious. Indeed, they go right to the heart of two essential questions: What is nature of religion, and what is the role of government?

The so-called Inclusion Act does nothing to protect children. To the contrary, it could continue depriving children of potentially loving, stable homes. And it does nothing to protect religious liberty.

Since much homophobia and transphobia is rooted in misogyny, it's clear to me that in order to cleanse our faith-based institution of anti-LGBT bigotry, we're going to have to do a much better job of dealing with the pervasive sexism. That will require a very long-term effort.

With the Supreme Court's Holly Lobby decision, an ugly piece of history is being repeated. Religion is being used as a tool to take away freedom. Discrimination is not Christian. Discrimination is sin.

ENDA is to employment nondiscrimination what civil unions are to marriage -- a token, but ultimately simply another reminder that LGBT persons are regarded as less-than, and that discrimination against us is regarded as more legitimate than it is against nearly any other group in the United States today.

While we may never be able to stop violence in the name of religion, we can prevent it at home and in our lives by remembering and instilling in each other basic ethical principles that are held by all religious traditions.

This morning in Charlotte, NC, the United Church of Christ filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court. This suit argues that the current law in NC, as it pertains to marriage, violates religious freedom by prohibiting UCC ministers, and other clergy, from officiating at same-sex marriages.